"I don't believe in such a change, I think a lot would have to happen for that to become a reality," Edgard Habib, chief economist for Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), told an energy conference in Lisbon.

Pierre Sigonney, chief economist for Total , said several world economies are linked to the dollar, so it is unlikely the oil prices could be denominated in a different currency. (2 October 2007)

Leaders of Air Force energy policy and programs convened here Sept. 25 to discuss the Air Force's direction and initiatives in the realm of renewable and alternative energy sources. William C. Anderson, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics and senior energy executive, and his deputy, Kevin W. Billings, presented the latest Air Force energy initiatives during sessions at the Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition hosted by the Air Force Association.

"Energy conservation and developing energy technology is a major Department of Defense effort," Mr. Anderson said. "As the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, the Air Force is in a great position to look for, promote and utilize alternative energy sources."

We are working to incorporate new energy initiatives and programs at every installation, and we want to incorporate alternative energy and energy conservation everywhere it makes sense -- for the military and the civilian community, Mr. Billings said.

The Air Force is committed to working with agencies in the private sector, experts in academia and throughout the DOD to generate viable sources of energy that are both domestically sourced and more environmentally friendly than current petroleum-based sources, Mr. Anderson said.

While energy programs cover installation power, ground vehicles and other requirements, the current focus of energy technology in the Air Force is aviation fuel, which makes up 82 percent of all energy consumed in the Air Force, Mr. Billings said. (2 October 2007)

Strength Needs Energy Fixing failed policy.Andrew Liveris, National Review Online As I’ve talked with other industrial and business leaders in the U.S. over the past several years, I’ve come to one inescapable conclusion: This country is in the middle of what could be a long and painful energy crisis.

It’s a crisis that goes beyond the very real misery many may feel this winter when they struggle to pay home heating bills. And it’s well beyond any discomfort Americans are feeling now when they go to fill up their cars and SUVs at the gas station.

The real energy crisis we face today is much graver because it has ballooned into a manufacturing crisis. It is now undermining the very things that have made this country so great for so long - its economic prowess, its education system, its strong history of innovation and invention, and, last but certainly not least, its basic national-security and influence in the world.

It doesn’t have to end that way, of course. There are solutions. But, we have to act soon if we hope to have any chance of saving our once mighty manufacturing economy, the basis of our great democracy and influence in the world.

First, we must reduce energy demand. This is not only the most practical first step; it’s also the easiest to implement, the most cost-effective to carry out and one of the most helpful in the long run for both energy security and our climate.

Every industrial sector, every residential sector, every appliance maker, every auto manufacturer and, yes, every consumer must be encouraged - and rewarded - for reducing demand. The cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use.

Second, we must diversify our energy supplies at home. That means, for instance, opening up previously restricted areas to safe and environmentally responsible development. There is an ample supply of clean-burning natural gas off our own shores to help us move toward a more energy secure future. Instead of paying for high-priced oil imports - which is the same as exporting money and jobs - we can use our own, clean domestic resources to fuel our own economy here.

In addition, I believe we should use revenues from these new sources to help fund a series of research projects to aggressively pursue alternative energy resources. We have the best minds and best scientists in the world - we should use them to help break our dependence on fossil fuels and chart a future path for this country that is more secure and sustainable.

Andrew Liveris is chairman and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company. (1 October 2007)

The Task Force was chartered by the Secretary of Energy in response to the provisions of Section 369(h) (5)(A) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 [PL 109-58].

The purpose of this site is to provide a source of information to the public about the Task Force, its charter and organization, and its progress in fulfilling its mission as directed by the Energy Policy Act.

Please take a look at News for information on the Task Force's recent release of the Strategy and Program Plan to Advance Development of U.S. Unconventional Fuels Resources. This report and the "Development of America's Strategic Unconventional Fuels Resources" may be downloaded from the Publications page. (October 2007)Suggested by Lisa Wright (of Rep. Bartlett's staff) who writes: The Strategic Unconventional Fuels Task Force Report (Vol. 1, 2, 3) is now complete and available at: www.unconventionalfuels.org/.

Also, the "Publications" page at the taskforce website has 11 factsheets on "the unconventional resources in the United States, associated technologies, hurdles, and economics." -BA

Whatever happened to sharing the pie of prosperity?Harold Meyerson, Christian Science Monitor More Americans now see the US as a place of haves and have-nots. That wasn't supposed to happen. --- Last week, a friend in his 30s prodded me to explain how my generation, the boomers, had botched so many things. While not exactly conceding that we had, I said that the one thing none of us had anticipated was that America would cease to be a land of broadly shared prosperity. To be born, as I was, in mid-century, was to have come of age in a nation in which the level of prosperity continued to rise and the circle of prosperity continued to widen. This was the great given of our youth. If the boomers embraced such causes as civil and social rights and environmentalism, it was partly because the existence and distribution of prosperity seemed to be settled questions.

Nor were we alone in making this mistake. Our parents may have gone through the Depression and could never fully believe, as boomers did, that the good times were here to stay. They remembered busts as well as booms. But the idea that the economy could revert to its pre-New Deal configuration (in which the rich claimed all the wealth the nation created while everyone else just got by): Who, among all our generations and political persuasions, expected that?

Yet that's precisely what happened. Median family income over the past quarter-century has stagnated. The economic rewards from increased productivity, which went to working-class as well as wealthy Americans from the 1940s to the '70s, now go exclusively to the rich. The manufacturing jobs that anchored our prosperity were offshored, automated, or deunionized; lower-paying service-sector jobs took their place.

It's no great achievement for a people to recognize that their nation's economy has tanked, but recognizing that their nation's class structure has slowly but fundamentally altered is more challenging. It's harder still for a people who are conditioned, as Americans are, not to see their nation in terms of class.

Which is why a poll released this month by the Pew Research Center reveals a transformation of Americans' sense of their country and themselves that is startling. (3 October 2007)It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict that U.S. politics is set to take a leftward turn, particularly if the economy turns sour. You heard it here first: the leftward shift will be sudden and dramatic, catching mainstream Democats by surprise. -BA

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